Here you will find the undisciplined thought derived from the random notes (loosely labeled research) that are responsible for the Gadfly commentary that appears in this Blog. Your comments are welcome. The best of them will be posted from time to time, with proper attribution, of course.

Wednesday, May 13, 2009

Air Force One Maneuvers

Air Force One Maneuversby Mort Malkin

On April 27, New Yorkers saw a four engined Boeing 747 flying low over downtown Manhattan, not a flight pattern they had seen for eight years. The plane was Air Force One. The flight crew, having been cleared by the flight controllers, thought that New Yorkers running from buildings was normal daily activity in the city.

This time the President was not aboard Air Force One. It was a photo-op flight for a picture that the White House could use in some brochure. Of course, the TV networks made a story of the gallons per mile the great plane uses and the total cost of the flight for a PR mission. In a departure from the B-C administration where no one was fired for failure to heed the multiple warnings of the attacks of 9-11 received at the Pentagon and the White House, the Obama team forced Louis Caldera, the Director of The White House Military Office, to resign, with no excuses that he wanted to spend more time with his family.

But the White House was not concerned about a lack of sensitivity for New Yorkers who will never forget two hijacked planes hitting the Twin Towers. Louis Caldera was fired because he was insufficiently computer literate. He should have known that with a photo program he could make a nice composite film of Air Force One passing over the Statue of Liberty. The Big Plane wouldn’t even have to take off.